Senior Scholarships open to aid students in college financial plans

More than 100 students and their families attended a scholarship fair that marked the opening for Castro Valley Educational Foundation scholarship applications, which can be found at the CVEF website. All 26 CVEF scholarships will accept applications from CVHS seniors until midnight on March 22. Winners will be announced at Senior Awards Night.

Most scholarships will award between $500 and $5,000 to students.  One award, the Dr. Mary Jane Stamm scholarship, offers $22,000 over four years based on financial need.

Before playing a game where parents guessed the meanings of Gen Z terms like “gucci” and “tea,” the scholarship presenters gave some tips to the audience about applying for CVEF scholarships.

Many recommended that students apply to all scholarships that they meet the qualifications for and even some that they don’t. Many scholarships can be awarded to those that do not meet all of the requirements, especially if not enough seniors apply. For example, the Charles Duerig Memorial Scholarship has a list of interests that an applicant should have but does not expect applicants to meet all requirements.

Although seniors should apply to as many scholarships as possible, they should not make up credentials or lie about their future career goals to qualify for scholarships. All answers that an applicant writes can be seen by each scholarship awarder. This also means that applying to multiple scholarships can allow awarders to get a better picture of who you are.

Finally, all seniors should apply to at least one, regardless of what school they will go to or what they will study. Some scholarships do not have minimum GPA requirements and although some expect applicants to have specific career goals, many don’t. One of the more popular scholarships, the Oh the Places You’ll Go Scholarship, only requires students to write about a place they’d want to travel to.

Many of the presenters mentioned that scholarships helped them buy some books or allowed them to focus on their education without needing to work at the same time. “$500 may not seem like much, but every little bit counts,” said Jennifer Pletcher, one of the CVEF Scholarship Co-chairs.